Share Via Email

MUMBAI: Demanding better price for their produce and crop loan waiver, farmers on Tuesday stormed Maharashtra secretariat and threw onions and tur dal at the entrance of the building.

“Our main demand is a complete waiver of crop loans. Along with that, we also want to highlight the plight of farmers who sowed onion and tur this year. The crops need to get assured price,” Sanjay Patil-Patnekar, president of Baliraja Shetkari Sanghatana told the New Indian Express, as the police whisked the protestors away from the secretariat gate.

Maharashtra has been the largest producer of tur dal in the last one year.

Government statistics show that out of the 11 lakh tonnes of the pulse purchased in the country, around four lakh tonnes was produced in Maharashtra. However, lakhs of tonnes of tur dal still remains unsold with the farmers.

With the monsoons approaching, the farmers are worried about the storage of their crop.

The other demands of the organisation were initiating CID inquiry into alleged corruption in the procurement of tur and relief for farmers affected by unseasonal rain and hailstorm.

Shiv Sena, in its mouthpiece Saamana, raised questions on the alleged scam on Tuesday and asked why the Maharashtra government had bought tur dal from dealers and not from farmers directly.

Comments

Disclaimer : We respect your thoughts and views! But we need to be judicious while moderating your comments. All the comments will be moderated by the newindianexpress.com editorial. Abstain from posting comments that are obscene, defamatory or inflammatory, and do not indulge in personal attacks. Try to avoid outside hyperlinks inside the comment. Help us delete comments that do not follow these guidelines.

The views expressed in comments published on newindianexpress.com are those of the comment writers alone. They do not represent the views or opinions of newindianexpress.com or its staff, nor do they represent the views or opinions of The New Indian Express Group, or any entity of, or affiliated with, The New Indian Express Group. newindianexpress.com reserves the right to take any or all comments down at any time.